Good teams need physical guys, but they have to be SMART physical guys. He is still young so it s hard to see how he will turn out, hope his teammates and coaches can reign him in and teach him to pick his spots. If he s coachable, it will work out.
Unfortunately b/c the refs don't some Flyers fans don't either..but I'm not one of them. I'm a Rinaldo backer. He had a nice agitating game last night...
Was listening to NHL network on Sirius/XM and Phil Esposito said he really likes Rinaldo and said that if you put him with some talent he would produce some offense as well. We saw glimpses of that last year but I'm fine with his checking and agitating role. In the future maybe he'll be more like a Talbot....or at least 2011-2012 Talbot...
Mr Esposito sees the same thing i saw in Zac when i started this thread......He is much better with the puck in my opinion than many think he is. He is not a one trick pony out there on the ice........love the kids overall game and the excitement he brings to a game.....
Rinaldo hasn't proven himself full yet IMO. He still takes too many unneeded penalties. At times he's on his game and looking good, but half the time he is running around doing nothing productive
To be fair, many of his uneeded penalties have been horrible calls by the officials this season......Yes he gets a little too spirited at times and takes some bad ones, but overall he is a big asset to our club in my view.
I've noticed in the last dozen or so games that he seems to be drawing a lot of penalties for the flyers, which is very nice to see.
He's drawing penalties because teams are retaliating against him for wiping out half their D corp. He hits so hard he's making the other teams' D look over their shoulders for him, which is why he's there.
I liked the fact that Lavy put Gus on the ice for the last minute yesterday, and Rinaldo too.
I love the little ball of hate. He's not the biggest player in the world, but he hits like a freight train. On top of it, he's getting it with regards to what he needs to do to stay out of trouble. He's been playing really smart and when you consider that he's been averaging double digits in ice time the past few games, coaches are rewarding him because he is starting to get it.
I hope people don't expect a lot of offense out of Rinaldo. He might be good for about 5 to 10 goals a year, but his bread and butter will be his physical play and keeping the opposition honest.
I love the little ball of hate. He's not the biggest player in the world, but he hits like a freight train. On top of it, he's getting it with regards to what he needs to do to stay out of trouble. He's been playing really smart and when you consider that he's been averaging double digits in ice time the past few games, coaches are rewarding him because he is starting to get it.
I hope people don't expect a lot of offense out of Rinaldo. He might be good for about 5 to 10 goals a year, but his bread and butter will be his physical play and keeping the opposition honest.
Just like Carcillo was eventually going to pot 10-20.
The guy has never scored 10 goals at any level of hockey he's played. He just doesn't have much offensive ability at all. He's played this agitator role for his whole career and averaged about 5 goals a year in the OHL and about 2 in the AHL/NHL. What makes you think he's going to double his average goals scored while staying in the same role?
Just like Carcillo was eventually going to pot 10-20.
The guy has never scored 10 goals at any level of hockey he's played. He just doesn't have much offensive ability at all. He's played this agitator role for his whole career and averaged about 5 goals a year in the OHL and about 2 in the AHL/NHL. What makes you think he's going to double his average goals scored while staying in the same role?
I'm with you. I don't give two ***** if he scores 5-10 or 2-3 goals per year, as long as he keeps other teams player honest on the ice and is feared and can agitate without TAKING bad penalties, play the guy.
Just like Carcillo was eventually going to pot 10-20.
I don't think there was anything too crazy about people saying that about Carcillo. He put up respectable numbers in juniors and the AHL, and in the season before he came to the Flyers he put somewhere in the area of 15 goals in less than a full season IIRC. I think Rinaldo getting 10 goals is not likely and would probably max out at his career high in a weird season. Predicting 10-20 from Carcillo when he was in Philly is not that outlandish (in fact, without looking I can confidently say he scored more than ten goals in his first season here).
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The guy has never scored 10 goals at any level of hockey he's played. He just doesn't have much offensive ability at all. He's played this agitator role for his whole career and averaged about 5 goals a year in the OHL and about 2 in the AHL/NHL. What makes you think he's going to double his average goals scored while staying in the same role?
This I agree with. Rinaldo plays the agitator role as well as anyone in the league, but the kid has pretty much zero offensive ability. His goals tend to be right place/right time goals.
I've honestly grown to like him and having him on the team. Half a dozen Rinaldos in the lineup would be five too many, but one is just enough. Sure, he doesn't provide much in terms of offense, but there are things he does well. So while I think there is a case to be made that there are other players that are scratched or playing in the AHL that have better offensive abilities, you have to consider whether a player slightly better offensively, but still not good enough to be considered a regular second liner, can really offset the hitting, agitation and energy Rinaldo provides. If he's taking stupid penalties, it's not really worth having him in the lineup, but like has been mentioned above already, he has drawn a couple of penalties himself. Plus, sometimes he might take a stupid penalty, but in turn draw a couple next time they play that team. But yeah, as far as his offense goes, there's definitely not much there.
Good teams need physical guys, but they have to be SMART physical guys. He is still young so it s hard to see how he will turn out, hope his teammates and coaches can reign him in and teach him to pick his spots. If he s coachable, it will work out.
This is a good point, Lappy was basically the ultimate 4th line grinder when it came to this.
He was smart, and knew when to fight and stir the pot. It's good that he's around the organization to work with the younger guys on this.
Just like Carcillo was eventually going to pot 10-20.
The guy has never scored 10 goals at any level of hockey he's played. He just doesn't have much offensive ability at all. He's played this agitator role for his whole career and averaged about 5 goals a year in the OHL and about 2 in the AHL/NHL. What makes you think he's going to double his average goals scored while staying in the same role?
Not disagreeing that Rinaldo has little offense, but he did score 10 goals in a season in juniors. Twice, actually.
IF rinaldo could kill penalties, his athleticism and skating ability makes me think he can, then he will be in the league for a long time. Very unique player but needs to find something that keeps him in the league.
